Song Collection Map

The purpose of our Song Collection Map is to represent the entirety of Frances Densmore’s work, all 2500 songs collected on wax cylinders, in tandem with the tribal affiliations of the works’ originators. The data collected and displayed through this map is derived from the published bulletins written by Frances Densmore and cross referenced with the Library of Congress’ catalog for the musicologist’s work. Each point on the map represents a location where Densmore took tribal recordings. The relative sizes of the circles show the number of songs collected in each location, and each color of circle corresponds to one tribe of origin, as outlined in the legend. The map is derived from a spreadsheet which organizes information from Densmore’s books into data such as Song, Catalog Number, Recording Location, Origin Location, Performer, Date, and Source. In total, we collected data from 30 tribes recorded and 15 bulletins published by Frances Densmore. The organization of data in this manner is for the purpose of creating a map that is accessible to viewers while accurately representing the entirety of collected tribal songs. Through this map, we are creating a platform for the widespread education of indigenous history.

 The accuracy of our data relies heavily on the detailed descriptions provided by Densmore herself. Her bulletins provide insight into the exact songs recorded for each tribe; however, there are plenty of instances where tribes, dates, performers, or locations are missing. Additionally, this research is limited to the bulletins that we as a group were able to procure with limited time and access – specifically, we were unable to procure several of Densmore’s bulletins, or her field journals, which are currently housed in the Smithsonian’s National Archive. Despite the lack of specificity in certain data, the resultant map still gives an overarching depiction of the work completed by Densmore, visually representative of the geographical situation of her work. The Song Collection Map includes links in each point that direct the viewer to the song collection spreadsheet previously referenced. While some locations can not be associated directly with certain songs through those links (due once again to the lack of specificity from Densmore) the map still shows the relative number of songs recorded in any given location, and, more importantly, the links to the datasheet still reflect tribal affiliations of songs with ambiguous recording locations

Attribution

Much of the text in the pop-up for each data point comes directly from the corresponding catalog entry in Library of Congress online database. Links are provided in the column marked “source” where this is the case. If you are citing data with a link in the source column, please follow the link to the Library of Congress and cite the appropriate entry.